This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Canadian Blood Services thrilled by UBC’s new technique for making universal blood

VANCOUVER—New research has found that enzymes from the human gut can be used to convert different blood types into type O so that it can be given to anyone.

Dana Devine, chief scientist at Canadian Blood Services, said she’s thrilled with the new research results, presented on Tuesday by UBC chemistry professor Stephen Withers.

Blood samples hang from hooks in the Canadian Blood Services’ processing lab. The agency’s top scientist said it hopes to eventually make use of a new method of altering the blood type of donated blood so that it can be transfused to anyone, regardless of their blood type. (Barry Gray / The Hamilton Spectator file photo)

“It’s actually a pretty big deal,” Devine said.

Speaking at the American Chemical Society’s convention in Boston, Withers said it’s long been a mission for researchers to find ways to convert all blood into type O, and the gut bacteria he and his team have found is successfully and efficiently converting types A and B blood into type O.

“We’ve fortunately been successful in finding one particular class of enzymes that is 30 times more efficient than any other that had been discovered,” he said. “We have now this purified enzyme which we can produce in quantity and ... can covert these A red blood cells to O red blood cells,” he continued.

In his presentation, Withers explained that types A and B blood have different antigens, which are small structures attached to the outside of the blood cells. The gut bacteria he has isolated works to remove and break down these outside structures, making the once-different blood cells into type O, which has no antigens.

Despite the fact that the new method will still have to pass through regulatory hurdles and clinical trials, Devine said she’s confident that Withers’ research will eventually turn into a product that the CBS can use.

“It’s the really important piece of science that he’s just gone and done. I think he’s probably cracked this problem,” Devine said, referring to the fact that past methods of converting blood to type O weren’t efficient enough to become a profitable product.

Article Continued Below

The research results are important, she said, because it would allow the agency to make all of its blood on hand safe to be given to everyone.

There are four main blood types — A, AB, B and O — and people with blood types A and B can only receive blood that matches, or type O, Devine explained. If a person receives the wrong type of blood, it can be fatal, because their immune system attacks the foreign-looking blood.

Officially called a “fatal blood transfusion,” the error causes red blood cells in the body to explode, which in turn causes extra protein to be released into the bloodstream.

“It can shut your kidneys down and it can actually be fatal,” Devine said.

“For blood transfusion, we get really obsessed in making sure that the blood group between the patient and donor are compatible,” she added.

At the CBS, bags of such rare blood types as AB sometimes pile up because so few people can accept that type of blood, while bags of type O blood are in high demand because they can be used on anyone.

In an emergency situation, “you’re lying there in the gurney, and the hospital has never seen you before and they have no idea what your blood group is, and yet you need a transfusion on an emergency basis. What they can do is give you a type O blood,” Devine said.

Last week, the CBS put out an emergency plea for more blood donors, saying it needed more than 22,000 blood donations before Aug. 26 to keep the country’s blood supply in check.

The new method wouldn’t be able to avert this kind of crisis completely, Devine said. But it would help a little, because it would mean the agency could convert any overstock of type A, B or AB blood into type O, freeing it up for use by anyone.

Tessa Vikander is a Vancouver-based reporter covering identity and inequality. Follow her on Twitter: @tessavikander

More from The Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com